Jong Oranje began their quest to reach the 2021 European Championships with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Cyprus in Doetinchem.

Netherlands haven’t participated at a U21 European Championships since reaching the semi-finals in 2013 but a new group of young talents, guided by Erwin van de Looi began their quest to reach the 2021 tournament on Tuesday evening.

The clash against Cyprus got off to a poor start after ten minutes when a mistake at the back by Justin Hoogma allowed Ruel Sotiriou to fire the visitors ahead.

However, Netherlands responded immediately with Teun Koopmeiners scoring from the penalty spot after Noa Lang was brought down. Kaj Sierhuis then laid the ball off for Dani de Wit to make it 2-1 in the 26th minute. Sierhuis added a third himself before the break with the help of a Cypriot defender.

Van de Looi brought on Ferdi Kadioglu, Tahith Chong and Daishawn Redan in the second half but Netherlands had to wait until the 86th minute to net a fourth. De Wit netted his second after a fine team move before Deyovaisio Zeefuik made it 5-1 in the final moments.

Netherlands get their qualifying campaign off to a good start but have tougher ties to come against Portugal and Norway. Belarus and Gibraltar are also in the group.




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